RODHAM TIED TO TWO MORE APPLICATIONS FOR CLEMENCY

Bill Clinton's brother-in-law Hugh Rodham, who acknowledged last week that he was paid about $400,00 to help with two successful clemency applications, also approached White House attorneys advocating clemency for a couple convicted of making illegal campaign contributions to Democrats, sources familiar with the matter said.

According to a source close to the White House counsel's office, Rodham spoke to attorneys regarding Nora Lum, and her husband, Eugene Kung Ho Lum, who also had been convicted of tax fraud. Other sources familiar with the case said legal materials supporting the Lums' request were sent to Rodham personally at the White House.

Rodham's work on the Lums' pardon application shows that he was more involved in the clemency process than previously known and that he took advantage of his frequent and easy access to the White House. Previously it was known only that Rodham had represented two other applicants.

The Lums, prominent Democratic fund-raisers at one time, did not receive a pardon or commutation of their sentences. It is not known whether Rodham had any financial arrangement with them.

Rodham's attorney, Nancy Luque, denied Rodham was representing the Lums. "He did not represent them in any way, shape or form in connection with any pardon request," she said Sunday. "He did not advocate on their behalf."

Asked if Rodham had ever spoken to the Lums about clemency, Luque declined to comment. Joel Wohlgemuth, a Tulsa, Okla., attorney who represented Eugene Lum in the federal tax case, Sunday declined to comment about whether he knew of any connection between the Lums and Rodham and the pardon request. Cono Namaroto, a Washington attorney who has represented the Lums, also declined to comment. "I've got nothing to say," he said.

The Lums, who reside in California, could not be reached.

Rodham was paid $400,000 in "success fees" by convicted drug smuggler Carlos Vignali and A. Glenn Braswell, who was convicted of perjury and mail fraud.

Congressional and federal investigators are examining the 140 pardons and 36 commutations Clinton issued in the final hours of his presidency.

House Government Affairs Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who is leading the Senate Judiciary Committee probe, said Sunday they may consider combining their efforts into one investigation.